not explain how the whole Church is but One must be false because the Unity of the Church properly belongs to the whole and not to a part Now as this Unity respects the whole Church it is impossible there should be any other Head of Unity but Christ any other medium of Unity but the Gospel-Covenant nor any other kind of Unity but the Unity of one Spiritual Body Communion or Society that we are all united by the Gospel-Covenant in One Body to Christ the one and Onely Head of the Universal Church 1. The Unity of the Church must consist in its Union to some one Head. This is acknowledged by all Christians and therefore I need not prove it and it is as evident that none can be the Head of the Universal Church but only Christ and that for this plain reason because it is Union to Christ alone which makes the Christian Church The Church is the Church of Christ and therefore he alone is the Head of his own Church This the Romanists themselves grant that Christ alone is the Head of his Church and that the Bishop of Rome is only a vicarious Head Christ's Vicar on Earth But when we speak of the Unity of the Universal Church part of which is translated to Heaven and part still militant on Earth it must be united in Christ alone for as he needs no Vicar in Heaven where he himself is immediately present so there can be no Vicar on Earth as a common Head of Unity for the Church on Earth and in Heaven and therefore the Unity of the whole Church cannot consist in its Union to such a vicarious Head as I observed before and then there can be no other Head of Unity but only Christ. 2. It is as evident also that the only Medium or Bond of this Union between Christ and the Church is the Gospel-Covenant for that is the Foundation of our relation to Christ He is our Head and Husband our Lord and Saviour we his Subjects Disciples Spouse and Body by Covenant And therefore the Sacraments of the New Covenant Baptism and the Lord's Supper are the Federal Rites of our Union to Christ Baptism is our Regeneration or New Birth whereby we are incorporated into his Body in the Lord's Supper we spiritually eat his Flesh and drink his Blood which signifies and effects as intimate an Union to him as there is of our Bodies and the Food we eat and this proves that there can be no other Head of Unity but only Christ because the Gospel Covenant unites us to none else which I take to be St. Paul's meaning when he reproves the Corinthian Schism 1 Cor. 1. 12 13. Now this I say that every one of you saith I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas and I of Christ. Is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized in the name of Paul That is that there is no other Head to whom we can be united but only Christ who purchased the Gospel-Covenant by his Death and into whose Name we are baptized His alone we are to whom we are united by Baptism we are in Covenant with none else and therefore belong to him alone if they might have owned any other Head besides him who died for them and into whose Name they were baptized if Christ had made Peter the vicarious Head of Unity as the Romanists pretend St. Paul's Argument against these Sidings and Factions that one said he was of Paul another of Apollos a third of Cephas or Peter had not been good for at least those who were united to Peter were in the right but St. Paul knew no other Head of Unity but only Christ because the Gospel-Covenant which is the only Medium and Bond of Union unites us to no other Head and therefore those who said they were of Peter or belonged to him as their Head and Center of Unity which is the case of the Church of Rome at this day were as great Schismaticks as those who said they were of Paul. Now this Covenant extends to the whole Church and therefore unites the whole Church to Christ. For those who are translated into Heaven are still united to Christ by the same Covenant with the Church on Earth There are several Duties indeed of this Covenant which the Saints in Heaven are exempted from because their state and condition there is above them Their Faith and Hope is turned into Sight and Enjoyment their Spiritual Warfare is accomplished for there is no Devil nor Flesh nor World to tempt them the Mystical Supper of our Lord is celebrated by them not in external Symbols and Figures but in a more divine manner in the immediate presence of the Lamb but thô the Duties of the Covenant change with their state and condition of life yet the Covenant is the same still by this Covenant it is that they are in Heaven and still expect the completion of their happiness in the Resurrection of their Bodies immortal and glorious and by the same Covenant it is that we hope when our Warfare is accomplished also to get to Heaven and to rise together with them at the sound of the last Trumpet And therefore the whole Church in Heaven and Earth is One by being united to the same Head by the same Covenant 3. The Unity then of the Universal Church can consist in nothing but this that the whole Church both in Heaven and Earth is united in One Body to Christ. For since there is no other Head of Unity for the Church but Christ the formal reason of this Unity must consist in the Union of the whole Church to Christ which makes the Universal Church the One Body of Christ and this is the Unity of the Church For I think it is no less than a demonstration that the Unity of the Universal Church which is part in Heaven and part on Earth cannot be the Unity of an organized Body which must consist in a regular Subordination of different Ranks and Degrees of men as the Church on Earth does For the Church on Earth and in Heaven which is the One Church of Christ is no such one common governed Society and therefore the Unity of the Church cannot consist in the Unity of one External Government But how then is the whole Church but one Body Truly I know no other way but that they are all united to Christ in the same Covenant and all who are thus united to him Christ accounts his One Body Thus Christ as bearing his Church is compared to a Vine all whose Branches we know are united only in the Stock or Root 15 John 1. and to an Olive-Tree 11 Rom. 17. and to a Sheepfold which consists of single and individual Sheep which are one Fold only because they are under one Shepherd 10 John 16. It is true indeed the Church is called also the Body and the Spouse of Christ but as that relates to the Universal Church it does not
but kept them in the state of Catechumens a great while till they were instructed in the Principles of Christian Faith and had given proof of a holy and vertuous life which is to expect that men should become new creatures before they are born again that they should walk in the Spirit before they have received the Spirit in Baptism that they should bring forth Fruit before they are implanted into this Spiritual Vine Now if Men who have lived very wicked Lives may be admitted to Baptism upon their profession of Faith and Repentance that in this Laver of Regeneration they may wash away all their Sins and become new creatures and receive the Spirit of Grace and Sanctification to reform their Lives this shews that the very Constitution of the Church on Earth is such that there may be very bad Men in it unless all who are baptized should infallibly prove good Men For bad Men who profess the Faith of Christ and Repentance of their Sins have a right to Baptism where they must receive Grace to mortifie and subdue their Lusts and renew their Natures and yet if after Baptism they resist the Grace and Spirit of God they will continue bad Men still and this the Ministers of the Church can never know whether they will or not Nay the Gospel-Covenant admits the Children of Christian-Parents to Baptism and it is impossible to know how those who are baptized in their Infancy will prove when they are Men and yet these are all Members of the Church and the Mystical Body of Christ at least till they are cut off by the Censures of the Church and there is no inconvenience in this if the Governours of the Church were but so strict in their Discipline as to prevent all Publick Scandals for since the Church on Earth is the School and Nursery of Vertue where bad Men may be reformed and become Saints since Christ is that Spiritual Vine from whom alone we can receive the communications of a Divine Life it is very fitting that all believers should be received into the Church and incorporated into Christ's Body for it cannot be known whether they will prove good or bad Men fruitful or barren Branches till they partake of the sap and fatness of the Root till they receive such communications of Grace as my renew them into a Divine Nature And therefore to say that none but real Saints are Members of the Church on Earth is to make no difference between a School of Tryal Exercise and Discipline and the state of perfect and consummate Souls between a state of Warfare where the Victory is doubtful and the triumphant company of Conquerors between those who run in a Race and those who have won the Prize for such a difference there is between the state of the Church on Earth and in Heaven We cannot run this Spiritual Race unless we be in the Church for there is no Prize no Crown to run for out of it And therefore those who lose as well as those who win the Prize must be in the Church and Members of it They are all in the same Covenant that if they overcome they shall receive the Crown good men conquer in this World and triumph in Heaven bad men are conquered and they lose their Crown and this makes the separation and difference between the Church in Heaven and Earth in Heaven there are none but those who have conquered on Earth all who run in the same Race and are engaged in the same Warfare are mixt together in the same Body and Society those who conquer and those who are conquered are of the same Company on Earth but none but Conquerors are crowned in Heaven Thus I have shewed wherein the Unity of the Church consists that the whole Church both in Heaven and Earth are united to Christ in the same Covenant which makes it his One Mystical Body and it was necessary to lay the foundation here for without this it is impossible to understand what the Unity of the Church on Earth means most of the mistakes in this matter being plainly owing to that first and fundamental mistake about the true Notion of Catholick Unity as that includes the Unity of the Universal Church part of which is translated to Heaven and part still militant on Earth Those who have been aware of this that the Church in Heaven and Earth is but one Church have hence concluded that the Catholick Church is only the number of the Elect that none but truly good men who are renewed and sanctified by the holy Spirit are Members of Christ's mystical Body which makes the Church on Earth as invisible to us as the Church in Heaven Others when they talk of the Unity of the Church never think of the Church in Heaven and therefore advance such a Notion of Church-unity as excludes the Church in Heaven as if the Church on Earth were the whole Church of Christ or that the Church in Heaven and Earth were not one Church or that the Notion of Church-unity must not relate to the whole Church but only to one part of it Thus as I observed before the Romanists do who place the Unity of the Church in its Union and Subjection to the Bishop of Rome which can concern only that part of the Church which is on Earth for the Church in Heaven is not under his government Others considering that the Unity of the Church consists in the Union of all the parts and members of it to Christ have no regard at all to the Unity of the Church on Earth as that also is one Body and Communion and therefore it will be time now to apply this Notion of Church-unity to the Unity of the Church on Earth CHAP. II. Concerning the Vnity of the Catholick Church on Earth IF the whole Church be one to be sure every part of it must be one with the whole and therefore one with it self with that same kind of Unity which belongs to the whole So that the Essential Unity of the Church on Earth that which makes a Church and makes it one is that all true Churches are Members of the One mystical Body of Christ as being all united to him as to their Head by the same Covenant So that whatever makes a Church a true Church makes it a Member of the One Catholick Church or of the One Body of Christ. And here comes in what the Apostle makes essential to this One Body One Lord One Faith One Baptism 4 Eph. 5. which signifies what I said before being united to Christ in the same Covenant For Christ is the One Lord to whom we are united the One Faith is the condition of this Covenant and the One Baptism is the faederal Rite of it or the Sacrament of our Union to Christ. Where this is not there is no Church and where this is there is but one Church how many particular Churches or distinct Communions soever this Church is divided into From whence
A DISCOURSE Concerning the Nature Vnity and Communion OF THE Catholick Church Wherein most of the CONTROVERSIES Relating to the CHURCH Are briefly and plainly Stated PART I. By WILLIAM SHERLOCK D. D. Master of the Temple LONDON Printed for William Rogers at the Sun over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1688. A DISCOURSE Concerning the Nature Vnity and Communion OF THE Catholick Church The Introduction IN the Preface to the Vindication of some Protestant Principles of Church-Unity and Catholick Communion from the charge of Agreement with the Church of Rome I promised a Discourse about the Church and intended to have discharged that Obligation which has been very importunately demanded of me long before this and indeed had finished what I now publish several months ago I shall not trouble my Reader with the Reasons why I then laid it aside I hope The Preservative against Popery will satisfie him that I have not been idle in the mean time but the true and only reason why I have delayed to publish this Part which has been so long finished was because I intended to finish the whole before I published it which would have given more general satisfaction to my Readers But I have not leisure for that now and think it more advisable to publish a part than none at all especially since what I here publish is an entire Discourse concerning the Nature and Vnity of the Catholick Church It is sufficiently known that there is no Argument of greater consequence in our Disputes with the Church of Rome than the Vnity and Authority of the Catholick Church Nothing will serve them but to make the Church of Rome the Catholick Church and then no body is a Member of the Church Catholick who is not in Communion with the Church of Rome and since no body can be saved but in the Church all Hereticks and Schismaticks who are not in Communion with the Church of Rome must be damned and there is a sad end of us all Thus the Catholick Church is an Infallible Teacher of Faith for who dares say that the Catholick Church can fail or err in Fundamentals since Christ himself has promised that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church and therefore the Church of Rome which is the Catholick Church and Principle of Catholick Vnity must be Infallible and no Christian ought to dispute any thing which she has determined in matters of Faith. The Bishop of Rome is the Head of this Catholick Church St. Peter's Successor and Christ's Vicar upon Earth and therefore he is the Supreme Governour of the Church from whom all other Bishops derive their Authority and to whom all Christian Princes and Emperours themselves are subject in Ordine ad Spiritualia which will go a great way to a Temporal Soveraignty and Vniversal Empire These pretences indeed have been sufficiently baffled by Protestant Divines ever since the beginning of the Reformation but we have to deal with men who have confidence enough to be baffled and not to own it to see all their Arguments confuted an hundred times over and to repeat them again with a good grace without replying to those Answers which have been so often given them or so much as taking notice that there ever had been any Answer made to them But after all that is said on one side and t'other I am very sensible there never will be an end of these Wranglings without setling the true Notion of the Catholick Church which though a great many good things have been said about it I think was never thoroughly done yet what my present Performance is I must leave other men to judge but if my Notion be right I am sure there is an end of all the vain and arrogant Pretences of the Church of Rome as will appear to any indifferent Reader who peruses this Discourse with Care and Judgment The foundation of all I have laid in an Inquiry into the true Notion of the Vnity of the Church Catholick which gives occasion to state the true Notion of the Church and most of those Controversies which depend on it I have here only considered what is meant by the Vnity of the Catholick Church as that signifies the whole Church of Christ both in Heaven and Earth and the whole Church of Christ on Earth What relates to the Nature and Vnity of particular Churches their Government Vnion and Combinations into one Catholick Communion must be reserved for a Second Part. ERRATA Page 5. line 3. for intent r. extent p. 5. l. 13. for for r. far p. 32. l. 15. for universal r. univocal CHAP. I. Concerning the Vnity of the whole Catholick Church in Heaven and Earth IT is acknowledged by all Christians that Christ has but One Church which is his One Body but then we must consider the intent of this One Church The Church on Earth indeed is but One but this One Church on Earth is not the One Church and One Body of Christ but only a very little part of it Christ has but One Church and One Body in all and therefore it must comprehend the whole Church from the beginning to the end of the World at least from the first planting of a Church by Christ and his Apostles till the last Judgment for they all belong to this One Church and this One Body of Christ so that for the greatest part of this One Church is already translated into Heaven and the Church on Earth is but a very little part of the whole for the Church in Heaven and the Church on Earth are but One Church and One Body Here we must lay the foundation if we would rightly understand what makes One Church for since this Unity comprehends the whole Church we cannot argue meerly from the Churches being One to infer any other kind of Unity but what makes the whole but what unites the whole Church in Heaven and Earth into One Body for that only is the true Unity of the Church because the whole Church in Earth and Heaven is the One Church And therefore to place the Unity of the Church in any thing which can concern only one part of the Church but not the whole as suppose that part only which is on Earth not that which is in Heaven is manifestly absurd because it does not give an account how the whole Church is One and yet the Oneness of the Church properly relates to the whole not to a part for a part be it never so much One can be but One part not the One Church Now hence we may learn wherein the Unity of the Church does not consist and wherein it does 1. Wherein the Unity of the Church does not consist As 1. The Unity of the Church does not consist in its being One organized Politick Body under the government of One visible Head on Earth for tho a visible Head on Earth might make the Church on Earth One yet it cannot unite the Church on Earth and the
Church in Heaven into One Body unless this visible Head on Earth be the Head of the invisible Church in Heaven too for if the Unity of the Church consists in being united under One Head that Head must be the Head of the whole Church or else the Church is not united in the Head if the Head which is the principle of Union be not the Head of the whole Now I suppose no Papist will say that the Bishop of Rome is the Head of the invisible as well as of the visible Church and then the Church is not one by being united under the Bishop of Rome tho there are some things which would make one suspect that the Church of Rome did believe the Pope to be the Head of the invisible as well as of the visible Church for if his Authority be confined to the Church on Earth one would wonder whence he should pretend to canozie Saints in Heaven or to release Souls out of Purgatory unless his being Christ's Vicar on Earth makes him his Vicar in Heaven and in Purgatory also but this by the way If they say that when they speake of the Unity of the Church they mean only the Unity of the Church on Earth and that the Pope is the visible Head of this Unity I answer 1. That they must grant then that they speak very improperly for the Church on Earth is not that One Church which is the One Body of Christ and therefore the Unity of the Church does not consist in the Headship of the Pope but they ought only to say that the Unity of the Church on Earth consists in its Union to the Pope 2. And therefore they must quit all their Arguments for the Pope's Headship taken from the Churches being One the One Body of Christ for the Church on Earth is not this One Body of Christ and therefore it does not follow that because Christ has but one Body therefore the Church on Earth must have one visible Head. 3. Nay they must confess that the formal and essential Unity of the Church on Earth does not consist in its Union to the Pope For the Church on Earth is One with the Church in Heaven they being both but One Church and therefore must have the same essential Unity for how they should be one by two sorts of Unity that is be one without the same formal Unity is very mysterious and near a kin to a contradiction And therefore since the Unity of the Church in Heaven does not consist in its Union to the Pope no more does the Unity of the Church on Earth the Unity being the same in both And thus all their Arguments from the Unity of the Church on Earth to prove an Universal Visible Head of the Church are lost too 2ly Nor does the Unity of the Church consist in joyning together in the external and visible Acts of Worship or in maintaining mutual intercourse and correspondence with each other these are Duties which result from Church-Unity when they are practicable as I shall shew more hereafter but the Unity of the Church cannot consist in them for the Church in Heaven and Earth are one without them and so may distant Churches on Earth be one Church without any such visible correspondence 3ly Nor can the Unity of the Church consist in such Articles of Faith as have not always been the Faith of the Christian Church For since the whole Church in all Ages is but One it can have but One Faith and that cannot be the One Faith which has not been the Faith of the whole Church And therefore it is ridiculous to talk of such a Power in the Church of every Age as to make or declare new Articles of Faith unless there be Authority to make a new Church too in every Age but then how the Church should change its Faith in every Age and yet continue one and the same Church is worth inquiry As far as any Church has altered the Faith of the Apostles and Primitive Christians it is become a new Church and a new Church I think is not the same with the old the Unity of the present Church considered as a Church does not consist only in its Unity with it self but with the Church also of former Ages for unless it be one with the Apostolick Churches it cannot be the One Church of Christ and therefore thô all the Christian World should at this Day unite in the Faith and Worship of the Council of Trent it would be as much divided from the One Church of Christ as it differs from the Faith and Worship of the Primitive Church I shall only observe here by the way what a contradiction the Worship of Saints and the Virgin Mary is to the belief of One Church For if the Church in Heaven and in Earth be but One Church then the most glorious Saints in Heaven not excepting the blessed Virgin herself are but Members of the same Body with us which makes it as absurd to Worship them in Heaven as it is for one Member of the same Body on Earth to Worship another for they are the same Body still and thô there is a great difference in honour between the Members of the same Body yet that relation that is between them will not admit of the Worship of any Member For it is no Act of Communion in the same Body for one Member to Worship another To pay Divine Honours to erect Temples and Altars to the greatest Saints advances them above the degree of fellow-Members and if they be not Fellow-Members of the same Body then the Church in Heaven and in Earth is not One Church From whence we may learn who they are who divide the Unity of the Church they who command the Worship of Saints and the Virgin or those who refuse it We believe the Church in Heaven and Earth to be the One Body of Christ and that the most glorious Saints are but Members of the same Body with us and therefore not the Objects of our Worship but of our Brotherly Love and Honour but those who Worship Saints destroy the Unity of Christ's Body by dividing the Church on Earth and the Church in Heaven for nothing is more contrary to the sense of Mankind than to Worship those of our own Communion And therefore the natural Interpretation of that Worship they pay to Saints is that they are not Members of the same Body with us but are as much above us as the Object of our Worship is and ought to be 2ly This Notion of Church-Unity that it must include the whole Church from the beginning of Christianity to the end of the World as well that part of it which is already transplanted into Heaven as that which still sojourns on Earth which is all but one Body may direct us wherein to place this Unity of the Church which to be sure can consist in nothing but what belongs to the whole Church any Notion of Unity which does
the Sufferings of his Natural Body extend no farther than his Mystical Body and therefore Christ is said to have reconciled both Jew and Gentile to God in one body by the cross 2. Ephes. 16. That is he has reconciled all both Jews and Gentiles who by Faith and Baptism are united in his one Mystical Body to God by his Sufferings on the Cross. So that we are not the Body of Christ and cannot be said to be the purchase of his Blood till we are united to him by Covenant This we may learn from that Analogy there is between the Law and the Gospel The legal Sacrifices especially that great Sacrifice on the Day of Expiation were typically of the Sacrifice of Christ and the Carnal Israel was a Type of the Spiritual Israel or of the Christian Church now as the Virtue and Expiation of Legal Sacrifices was applicable only to the Carnal Israel so the Expiation of Christ's Death extends only to the Spiritual Israel the Christian Church which is Christ's Mystical Body which one thing if well considered would answer all the Difficulties and silence those fierce Disputes about Universal Redemption However this shews what difference there is between bad Christians and the world of Infidels the first are visibly in Covenant with Christ and are the Purchase of his Blood and have a Covenant-right to the redemption of it and therefore are Members of his Mystical Body for none else have any right to his Sacrifice the other have no interest in him nor relation to him And if we will not allow of this I desire to know who those Children of the Kingdom are that at the last day shall be shut out But is not our Mystical Union to Christ then an Union of Spirits a participation of his Nature and Life having his Spirit dwelling in us being led by the Spirit and walking in the Spirit I answer this is our Spiritual Union to Christ this is to live in him to be quicken'd by him but it is not our Mystical Union as that signifies such an Union as makes us Members of his Mystical Body for that in a strict proper sence is only a Covenant-relation every Member of Christ's Mystical Body ought to partake of his Life and Spirit or else they are onely dead and rotten Members which shall be cut off and shall never inherit Eternal Life but such dead Members are Members still till they are cut off either by Church Censures in this World or by the Sentence of Christ in the next This Participation of the Life and Spirit of Christ is not our Mystical Union to Christ but the effect of it We cannot receive the influences of Life and Grace from Christ till we are united to him and made the Members of his Body for his Spirit onely quickens and animates his own Body and we are united to his Body by Covenant and by the Sacraments of it which convey this Divine Life and Spirit to us and therefore Baptism is our Regeneration or New Birth the beginnings of a New Life because it incorporates us into Christ's Mystical Body which puts us under the influences and communications of his Life and Spirit as when a branch is engrafted into a stock it receives nourishment and life from it So that these divine and supernatural influences are consequent upon our Union to Christ and tho' all who are united to Christ have these influences of Grace as the root naturally communicates its sap and juices to all its branches yet all do not improve it do not digest it into principles of life and action do not bring forth fruits worthy of it like dead and withered branches who cannot receive the sap and nourishment which ascends from the root and would quicken them were not its entrance stopt and hindred but notwithstanding this they are members and branches still though dead and fruitless There is no account indeed had of them Christ knows them not and does not reckon them as his and therefore the Description and Characters of the Church in Scripture are such as belong onely to living Members to those who are renewed and sanctified and quicken'd by the Divine Spirit but yet they do belong to Christ's Mystical Body tho' they are in it onely as a dead Branch is in the Vine But how can the Church on Earth and the Church in Heaven be one Church and one Body if the Church on Earth has such corrupt and rotten Members in it for the Church in Heaven has none but living and holy Members I answer the same Covenant makes them the same Church and the same Body of Christ and that there are bad Men in the Church on Earth and none but Saints in Heaven does not prove that they are two Churches but that they are in two very different states Of right none but sincere believers and truly pious men ought to be Members of the Church on Earth as well as in Heaven but the government of the Church the receiving in and casting out of the Church being intrusted with Men who cannot see the Heart or who are not careful in the Exercise of Discipline to preserve the Purity of the Church secret Hypocrites may be received into the Church and those who are openly Prophane may not be cast out of it but in the other World Christ makes the distinction and separates the Chaff from the Wheat and therefore the Church in Heaven can consist only of good Men because bad Men can find no admission there And besides this it is agreeable enough to the state of the Church on Earth and indeed cannot well be otherwise that good and bad Men should be intermixt in it because it is a state of Tryal and Discipline of Growth and Improvement Tho' bad Men as that signifies Hypocrites and Unbelievers if they were known ought not to be received into the Church yet if they be by the Influences of Grace and the Instructions of the Word and the Prayers of the Church and the Examples and Conversations of good Men and the prudent Exercise of Discipline they may be reclaimed to Vertue and become living Members of Christ's Body those who were dead before may recover a New Life by being engratted into this Heavenly Vine nay indeed tho' all men are not equally wicked yet no Man has this Divine Life but onely from Christ and the communications of his Grace which he cannot receive from Christ till he be united to him and therefore the Apostles required no other qualification for Baptism but onely Faith the very worst of Men who believed in Christ and profess'd obedience to him were received into the Church by Baptism and put under the Influences of Grace without expecting till they had first reformed their Lives which besides the Authority of the Apostles seems to me much more agreeable to the Gospel-Dispensation than that Discipline which was afterwards used in the Church when they did not immediately baptize those who profess'd to believe in Christ
it as evident that there never can be more than one Church in the World for those Nominal Churches which have not the same Lord the same Faith the same Baptism are no Churches and all that have are but one Which makes it a ridiculous Triumph of the Church of Rome as if we Protestants did not believe one Catholick Church or could not tell where to find it when we profess to believe but One Church and that all true Churches are Members of this One Church For it is plain from this account that though all the Churches in the World were united in one Ecclesiastical Body yet this external visible Union is not the thing which makes them the one Body of Christ They are one Body by being all united to one mystical Head the Lord Jesus Christ not by an external and visible Union to each other this external Union is a Duty which all Christians and Christian Churches are bound to observe as far as possibly they can but all true Christians and Christian Churches are the One Body of Christ whether they be thus visibly united or not But for the better understanding this matter we must consider I. The true Notion of the Catholick Church on Earth II. What the Nature and Unity of a particular Church is and how every particular Church is a part of that Universal Catholick Church which is the Body of Christ. III. What that Unity and Communion is which all distinct particular Churches ought to maintain with each other and whence this Obligation results I. The true Notion of the Catholick Church on Earth Now it is evident from what I have already discoursed that the true Notion of a Church is the caetus Fidelium or the company of the Faithful of those who profess the true Faith of Christ and are united to him by Baptism There can be no other Notion of the Universal Church in Heaven and Earth but the whole company and family of the Faithful who are united to Christ by covenant and are his mystical Body in the sense above explained And if the Universal Church in Heaven and Earth be the whole company of the Faithful the Catholick Church on Earth must be the whole number of the Faithful on Earth for we must still retain the same Notion of a Church where the whole consists of universal parts for there every part has the same nature with the whole I know indeed of late the Clergy have in a great measure monopolized the Name of the Church whereas in propriety of Speech they do not belong to the definition of a Church They are Members of the Church as they are themselves of the number of the Faithful and they are the Governours of the Church as they have received Authority from Christ the Supream Lord and Bishop of the Church but they are no more the Church than the King is his Kingdom or the Shepherd his Flock and therefore St. Paul expresly distinguishes the Church from the Apostles and Ministers of it 1 Cor. 12. 28. God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers after that Miracles then Gifts of Healing Helps Governments diversities of Tongues These are placed in the Church for the instruction edification and good government of it and therefore are of a distinct consideration from the Church in which they are placed Thus 4 Eph. 11 12. He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ that is the Church of Christ which is therefore distinguished from the Pastors and Teachers of it Thus in directing his Epistles to several Churches he gives us the definition of a Church 1 Cor. 1. 2. Vnto the Church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours that is the whole company of the Faithful 1 Ephes. 1. Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the Saints which are at Ephesus and to the Faithful in Christ Jesus Which is the true definition of a Church 1 Col. 2. To the Saints and faithful Brethren in Christ which are at Coloss. And 1 Phil. 1. he expresly distinguishes the Saints or Church as that signifies the company of the Faithful from the Bishops and Deacons To all the Saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the Bishops and Deacons The Learned Launoy has produced various Texts of Scripture for this definition of the Church that it is the company of the Faithful and has proved by the Testimony of the Fathers in all Ages even down to the Council of Trent it self that this was the received Notion of the Church till it was altered by Canisius and Bellarmine Canisius puts Christ's Vicar into the definition that the Church is the visible collection of all baptized Believers under one Head Christ in Heaven and his Vicar on Earth which makes the Church a Monarchy Bellarmine defines the Church to be a company of men united together by the profession of the same Christian Faith and the Communion of the same Sacraments under the government of lawful Pastors but chiefly of the Bishop of Rome as the one Vicar of Christ on Erath which makes the Church a kind of mixed and tempered Monarchy the government of Bishops and the Pope as Supream Vicar whereas before these men neither Pastors nor Bishops much less the Pope of Rome were ever put into the general definition of a Church for as for St. Cyprian's definition I shall account for it hereafter And indeed it stands to reason that they should not for Pastors and Bishops are set over the Church are Overseers of the Flock to instruct and govern it and therefore must be distinguished from the Church which they govern The Church is the mystical Body of Christ which is in subjection to Christ the Head but the Bishops and Pastors of the Church considered as such represent the Head and not the Body for they receive their Power and Authority from Christ and act in his place and stead as he tells them after his Resurrection As my Father hath sent me so send I you 20 John 21. And He that receiveth you receiveth me and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me 10 Matth. 40. and 13. John 20. And therefore as Christ the Head is distinguish'd from his Body so are those also who act under the Head and represent and exercise his Authority in the Church as private Believers they are the Members of the Church as Church-Governours they are the Vicars of Christ. Now from hence I shall observe some few things the use of which we shall afterwards better understand As 1. That Bishops and Pastors are not the Church but the Governours of the Church and therefore the Promises